Over the last 20 years, credit cards have gained widespread acceptance as a means of paying for goods and services. In 1991, American consumers used credit cards to spend an excess of $250 billion. Worldwide, the value of credit card transactions exceeded $600 billion. The large volume of credit card transactions requires merchants to collect, transmit, and store vast amounts of transaction related data.
As used herein, the term "credit card" is intended to include credit cards, charge cards, debit cards, and other financial account cards. Credit cards typically include two sources of essential account information. A magnetic stripe includes the account number, expiration date, cardholder's name, and other information. Embossed characters also provide the account number, expiration date, and cardholder's name in a form that may be recognized by a merchant.
In order for a credit card transaction to be processed, a merchant must collect a variety of data associated with the transaction. This data typically includes the purchase price and date of the transaction, the account number and expiration date of the credit card, and the cardholder's name and signature. Once this data is collected, the merchant transmits the transaction data, along with its merchant identification code, to a credit card transaction processor. The credit card processor sorts the data according to the company that issued the credit card, and forwards the data to the appropriate company. At that point, the credit card issuer posts the transaction to the cardholder's account and the purchase amount is credited to the merchant.
The credit card processor facilitates the flow of information and funds between merchants and credit card issuers. This process is described more completely in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 07/820,401, filed Jan. 10, 1992, entitled "Data Card Terminal with Embossed Character Reader and Signature Capture", and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof. (The foregoing application hereinafter will be referred to as the "signature capture terminal application").
Formerly, credit card transaction data was recorded, transferred, and stored in the form of paper receipts. Over the years, the credit card industry has developed various types of equipment that provide for the electronic acquisition, transmission, and storage of transaction data. In addition to reducing the industry's reliance on paper records, this equipment expedites the processing of credit card transactions and minimizes errors associated with the entry of transaction data. The equipment includes point-of-sale (POS) equipment used by merchants and computer systems used by credit card processors.
Most merchants employ a cash register system of some type in order to record data associated with transactions, regardless of whether payment is made with cash, check, or credit card. In addition to a cash register, merchants that accept credit cards use other POS equipment to collect data associated with the credit card. This equipment usually includes electronic terminals that read the account number and expiration date from a magnetic stripe on the credit card and transmit the transaction data to the credit card processor. Such equipment may be separate from, or integrated into, the cash register equipment.
In a typical credit card transaction, a cardholder presents a credit card to a merchant, who records transaction data using an electronic terminal. The recorded data includes the amount of the purchase, the cardholder's account number, the card's expiration date, the merchant identification number, and the date of the transaction. In most cases, the cardholder is also required to sign a copy of the receipt.
Once the terminal accumulates the transaction data, the terminal automatically dials the merchant's credit card processor or other authorization source and initiates an authorization request. When the transaction is authorized, the terminal displays and/or stores the approval code or authorization indicia received from the credit card processor. The approval code is recorded along with the other transaction data. The POS equipment typically includes a printer that is capable of printing a sales receipt. The sales receipt includes the transaction data and approval code, and provides a space for the cardholder's signature.
These prior art devices allow numeric data, such as purchase price, date, account number, and merchant identification number to be easily accumulated, stored, and transmitted between the merchant and credit card processor. Consequently, numeric transaction data may be transferred and stored without the use of paper receipts. Although this numeric data is sufficient to process the transaction, it may be insufficient to validate or authenticate a transaction that is disputed by the cardholder. In the event a cardholder questions or denies the legitimacy of a transaction that appears on his or her credit card statement, it may be necessary for the merchant to produce a copy of the signed receipt as evidence that the cardholder was a party to the transaction. Therefore, it is necessary that a copy of each signed receipt be retained by the merchant for some period of time.
This process of retaining and retrieving signed receipts is simplified if the merchant employs POS equipment that allows the cardholder's signature to be digitized, transmitted, and stored along with the numeric data associated with the transaction. In such cases, the signature is digitized as the cardholder signs the credit card receipt. The digitized signature data and numeric transaction data are combined and transmitted to the credit card processor, where the data is stored for a predetermined period of time. If a cardholder disputes the validity of a transaction, the entirety of the transaction data, including a facsimile of the signature, may be provided by the credit card processor, and may serve as evidence of the legitimacy of the transaction. This process and a terminal that includes a signature capture printer are described in the above-referenced signature capture terminal application.
Many merchants have invested significant amounts of money in POS equipment, such as sophisticated electronic cash registers, that allows the merchant to collect all of the numeric data associated with credit card transactions. In the case of larger merchants, the POS equipment may be connected to a merchant's accounting computer system or "in-store processor" via a data communications network in order to facilitate the merchant's business operations. Although it may be advantageous to capture signatures in such cases, it is not cost effective or convenient to do so if it is necessary to add additional printers or terminals that duplicate the merchant's existing capabilities. Furthermore, a merchant's existing POS equipment may be connected to peripheral devices, such as check readers for automatically reading checking account data and PIN pads, which are used to input a debit card user's personal identification number (PIN). The existing POS equipment may not provide sufficient communications ports to allow the merchant to connect additional peripheral devices.
In order to facilitate the automatic collection of transaction data, it would be desirable to provide a signature capture device that could be used in conjunction with existing electronic cash registers and POS terminals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,906 to Protheroe et al. (the "'906 patent") and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/575,096, of Allgeier et al., filed Aug. 30, 1990, describe signature capture devices that may be used in conjunction with existing POS equipment.
The Allgeier application describes a write input device that employs a display underneath a transparent digitizer in order to capture signature information. The '906 patent correctly notes that the liquid crystal display of the Allgeier device makes it expensive. The display also increases the amount of power consumed by the device. Consequently, such devices often require a separate power supply. Liquid crystal displays also provide a limited viewing angle. Because the liquid crystal display is set up to be viewed clearly by the customer, it is difficult for the merchant to see the displayed signature and compare it to the signature on the back of the credit card.
The '906 patent describes an inexpensive pressure sensitive digitizer that does not have a display. Although this device eliminates the costs attributable to the display, pressure sensitive digitizers experience several problems when used in POS applications. A pressure sensitive digitizer consists of two electrically coated surfaces that are separated by spacers. The digitizer's sensitivity is determined by the distance between the spacers. If the digitizer is sensitive enough to respond to light writing pressure, it also is likely to respond to coincident finger contact that occurs when a customer is signing a receipt. Decreasing the sensitivity in order to avoid responses to finger contact results in increased writing force being required for the signature. Consequently, the digitizer may fail to capture light handwriting strokes. Wear from repeated use damages the coated surfaces and leads to position errors in the digitized signals. Furthermore, pressure sensitive digitizers do not accurately capture signatures when thick or multi-pan forms are used.
In addition to the foregoing considerations, inexpensive add-on signature capture devices should provide flexibility and be configurable for use with POS systems having a variety of capabilities. For example, limits on the POS system's storage capacity may require that the signature capture device provide compressed signature signals, and that the size of the signature data be limited to a maximum compressed signature size selectable by the merchant. Likewise, the merchant's POS system may be powerful enough to compress the digital signature signals received from the signature capture device. Therefore, the merchant may prefer to receive uncompressed digitized signature signals and perform the compression at the electronic cash register or in-store processor. Each electronic cash register also may include a display or printer capable of producing a facsimile signature corresponding to the digitized signature signals. Providing a facsimile signature at the point-of-sale allows the merchant to indicate whether the digitized signature is acceptable prior to the completion of the transaction. An adjunct signature capture device also should preserve the merchant's ability to use other peripheral devices in conjunction with its POS devices.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a cost-effective signature capture pad that may be added to existing POS equipment. Because POS equipment has differing capabilities, there is a need for a flexible signature capture pad capable of providing signature data in a variety of user-selectable formats. Furthermore, because some POS equipment includes interconnected peripheral devices having a limited number of communications ports, there is a need for a signature capture pad that may be connected to existing POS equipment, and that facilitates data communication between POS equipment and peripheral devices.